General election in Portugal 2005
In the parliamentary elections in Portugal in 2005 on February 20, 2005, around 8.9 million Portuguese at home and abroad were called upon to redefine the 230 seats in the Assembleia da República .
The election took place outside of the statutory four-year cycle , as the Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio announced the IX. Parliament had dissolved before the end of the legislature. Sampaio found that political stability in Portugal was no longer guaranteed a few months after Prime Minister Pedro Santana Lopes took over from his predecessor José Manuel Barroso in the summer of 2004 . The government had already weathered several crises within the first few months, and the coalition of the liberal-conservative PSD and the right-wing conservative CDS-PP was considered fragile.
The election was won by the Portuguese Socialists (Partido Socialista, PS). Victory had been predicted by all pollsters, but for the first time the socialists won an absolute majority. In general, the result was seen as a punishment for the then governing parties PSD and CDS-PP by the voters. All in all, all left-wing parties in parliament ( PS , PCP , PEV , BE ) recorded strong increases in votes.
background
In the Portuguese parliamentary elections in 2002 , the then opposition parties PSD and CDS-PP won a clear victory and formed a coalition government under José Manuel Barroso. Paulo Portas as Minister of Defense and Manuela Ferreira Leite as Minister of Finance became Deputy Prime Ministers.
After the European Commission President Romano Prodi decided in 2004 to return to Italian politics and step down as President of the European Commission , the search for a successor began. After much discussion, the European heads of government agreed on the then Portuguese Prime Minister Barroso. After his approval, he ended his business of government on July 17, 2003. Contrary to usual practice, President Jorge Sampaio did not schedule new elections, but instead, on Barroso's recommendation, appointed the former mayor of Lisbon, Pedro Santana Lopes , as the new prime minister, who continues to hold the 2002 elected government majority was available. This process was particularly criticized by the opposition parties (PS, PCP, PEV, BE) who called for new elections. They also criticized the choice of personnel, as Santana Lopes is considered particularly polarizing and polemic. As a result, Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues resigned from his post as the PS General Secretary and opposition leader at the time, as the new government was not legitimized at the ballot box.
The subsequent term of office of Santana Lopes shaped crises and problems, especially between the two coalition partners. Santana Lopes announced various initiatives on TV talk shows, which the responsible ministers again denied the following day. He also reorganized his cabinet several times; Henrique Chaves resigned as Minister for Youth and Sport after just four days. Much more serious for President Sampaio, however, was Santana Lopes's financial and economic policy. This decided - contrary to initial promises - tax cuts and wage increases in the public sector and called for a relaxation of the European Stability and Growth Pact . The Portuguese National Bank and many leading companies did not consider this policy to be serious and criticized the economic “zigzag course”.
Finally, in November 2004, President Sampaio decided to call new elections and thus to a certain extent "overthrow" Prime Minister Santana Lopes, as he no longer saw political stability being preserved. The process was unique in Portuguese history, but is legally stipulated. Santana Lopes nevertheless complained that the President had "ambushed" him and noted that this had not been the case with previous (socialist) governments. The President performed this act of constitutional prerogative at a time when electoral researchers were predicting a possible election victory for the socialists. Santana Lopes officially resigned from his post as Prime Minister on December 11, but continued to lead the government until the election.
Topics of the election campaign
The most important topic of the election campaign was the precarious situation of the Portuguese economy. Due to the EU enlargement in 2004 , the already low international competitiveness fell again. Although the government under Barroso had already promised improvements, economic success had failed to materialize. Another topic was the reduction of bureaucracy, since particularly in Portugal high costs and long official channels in the state apparatus are common. Almost all parties promised to reform the state authorities.
The issue of legalizing voluntary abortion also played a role. A referendum had already taken place on this in 1998, but a slim majority decided against it. Both mainstream parties announced another referendum.
In general, the campaign issues were very Portuguese-centric. The European Union played only a minor role; The Iraq war, in which Portugal took part with troops from the Guarda Nacional Republicana (GNR), was of far less importance than in neighboring Spain, for example. Nevertheless, opposition candidate José Sócrates promised to withdraw the troops on this issue - as did the other left-wing parties, Santana Lopes wanted to keep them in Iraq. Questions of the integration of the numerous migrants and human rights also played virtually no role.
During the election campaign on February 13, 2005, the last witness to the Three Secrets of Fátima , Lúcia dos Santos , died, whereupon a state mourning was announced. The parties PSD and CDS-PP then stopped their election campaign for several days and also called for an end to the election campaign. The other parties declined because of the importance of the elections and are only suspending their campaigns for one day at a time. A few days later the PSD and CDS-PP resumed the election campaign.
Campaigning parties
Partido Socialista (PS)
The Socialist Party of Portugal, the Partido Socialista, last ruled under António Guterres until 2010. In a direct election for the party chairmanship on September 24 and 25, 2004, which became necessary after the resignation of General Secretary Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues, José Sócrates ( with 79 percent) against his competitors Manuel Alegre (17.9 percent) and João Soares (4.2 percent). Therefore, he also ran as a candidate for the parliamentary election, which was called two months later.
Sócrates promised to modernize the country, for which he presented various initiatives for education, training and research as well as plans for a technological offensive, which he described as a "technological shock" ( choque tecnológico ). Sócrates also announced another referendum to legalize abortion. In order to rehabilitate the economy or give it new impetus, Sócrates proposed a semi-state investment program with a focus on infrastructure expansion, environmental protection and the social sector worth 20.8 billion euros. Other economic policy goals of the election program were to reduce the national deficit below the permitted three percent and to maintain current taxes. Critics complained that the economic policy of the PS differed only in nuances from that of the liberal democratic PSD.
The PS aimed primarily at the voters of the political center who had previously voted for the PSD. Sócrates announced an absolute majority as the goal . He did not say whether and which party should serve as a coalition partner, if only a relative majority should be achieved.
Partido Social Democrata (PSD)
The Social Democratic Party, the Partido Social Democrata, reappeared with Santana Lopes for lack of alternatives, although President Sampaio dissolved parliament precisely because of Prime Minister Santana Lopes' government style. The board of the PSD elected him with 93 percent (93 out of 100 votes) as the new candidate for parliamentary elections.
The election manifesto of the PSD was also shaped by restructuring the Portuguese economy. The PSD reacted with a management shock ( choque de gestão ) to the technology shock propagated by Sócrates. The productivity of the Portuguese economy should increase from 64 to 75 percent of the average of the 15 old EU members by 2010. In addition, the share of government spending in gross domestic product should also be reduced from 48 to 40 percent by 2010.
In terms of social policy, Santana Lopes spoke out against legalizing abortion, but, like Sócrates, pursued the idea of a referendum. He also promised the students a new financing model for tuition fees and continuity in courses at high schools and universities.
Santana Lopes' goal was to remain in government. The conservative CDS-PP should continue to be retained as a coalition partner. In the meantime it was also discussed that PSD and CDS-PP would compete together in a list connection (similar to the former Aliança Democrática ), but this was soon discarded.
During the election campaign, the PSD also campaigned with its party member and EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso. The European Socialist Group in particular criticized this process. Former Prime Minister Aníbal Cavaco Silva refused to approve a joint election poster with candidate Santana Lopes because he found it to be incapable.
Centro Democrático e Social - Partido Popular (CDS-PP)
The People's Party (Centro Democrático e Social - Partido Popular) campaigned - as in the last elections - with Defense Minister Paulo Portas . He ran himself in the Aveiro constituency .
Like the PS and PSD, the CDS-PP also advertised with a shock in its election manifesto, but with a “shock of values” ( choque de valores ). The election program was focused on the areas of education, health, social security, economy and the environment. However, Portas attached great importance to education. The school system should be checked economically and school books should not only be used for one year, as is usual in Portugal. In order to fight unemployment, Portas suggested investing particularly in future technologies and tourism. Likewise, the tax burden in general - which according to Portas was 48 percent - should be reduced. In addition, the CDS-PP rejected the legalization of abortion, and homosexual marriages should not be allowed either.
In general, the party sets itself high goals for the election. More votes and mandates than PCP and BE together and at least ten percent should be achieved. In addition, the CDS-PP wanted to become the third strongest force and prevent an absolute majority from a single party.
Coligação Democrática Unitaria (CDU)
The list connection Coligação Democrática Unitária (“United Democratic Coalition”) - an electoral alliance of Partido Comunista Português (PCP) and Partido Ecologista Os Verdes (PEV) - joined the PCP General Secretary, Jerónimo de Sousa , who was elected in 2004 .
Although appearing together in a list connection, the two parties appeared with different election programs. The Portuguese Greens (PEV) advertised in their election manifesto ( Manifesto Eleitoral ) above all for their environmental and energy policy. The Greens advocated nationalization of the water supply, more effective coastal protection and a program to avoid the forest fires that are common in Portugal in summer . They also called for an expansion of renewable energies and thus a higher level of self-sufficiency in the energy sector , since the current dependency on electricity imports would be 90 percent. In addition, they called for ratification of the Kyoto Protocol , a revision and the associated flexibilization of the European Stability and Growth Pact , a referendum on the EU constitution , the withdrawal of the GNR from Iraq and increased funding for state schools.
The Communist Party of Portugal, the Partido Comunista Português , also presented an electoral program that, although similar to the election manifesto of the Greens, emphasized more aspects of labor and social policy. For example, the PCP called for the minimum wage to be increased to 400 euros per month, an amendment to labor law ( Código do Trabalho ), an increase in pensions and the retention of the retirement age at 65 (for men) and 62 (for women). The PCP also called for the VAT increase from 17 to 19 percent to be reversed, privatizations to be stopped and hospitals to be nationalized again, abortion to be legalized (without a referendum), free school resources, and the social ticket for transport in the Lisbon area to be extended to all forms of transport and to introduce a similar ticket in the Porto area and withdraw the GNR from Iraq.
The main goal of the CDU was to stop the downward trend in previous elections. The CDU also set itself the goal of becoming at least the third strongest force in parliament. Critics particularly praised the CDU top candidate Jerónimo de Sousa , who showed himself to be pragmatic and free of ideology in the election campaign and also seemed ready for a coalition with the PS.
Bloco de Esquerda (BE)
The left bloc, the Bloco de Esquerda , was and is the youngest party to be represented in the Assembleia da República. The alliance was formed in 1999 from the four left parties União Democrática Popular (UDP), the Partido Socialista Revolucionário (PSR), the Política XXI and the FER-Ruptura . The party came up with its recently elected General Secretary Francisco Louçã as the top candidate.
The BE's electoral program was titled Tempo de viragem ("Time of Change") and was presented by Louçã in January 2005. The most important part of the program was the announcement of ten points that would be implemented in the first hundred days of government. These included the creation of jobs, the legalization of abortion, the nationalization of privatized hospitals, an amendment to the European Stability and Economic Pact , the lifting of banking secrecy, the withdrawal of the GNR from Iraq, simplified procedures for immigrants, the modernization of the judiciary and its abolition the exam in the 9th grade.
The Bloco de Esquerda set itself the goal of anchoring itself as a strong force on the left in the political landscape of Portugal and remaining in the Assembleia da República . General Secretary Louçã ruled out a coalition with the parties PSD, CDS-PP and PS.
Other parties
In addition to the parties already mentioned, six others also took part in the parliamentary elections. The Partido Comunista dos Trabalhadores Portugueses - Movimento Reorganizativo do Partido do Proletariado (PCTP / MRPP; Communist Party of the Portuguese Working People - Movement for the Reorganization of the Party of the Proletariat ), a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist party, won most of the votes from these parties is best known for its chairman, the lawyer Garcia Pereira .
Other participating parties were the Partido da Nova Democracia (PND; Party of the New Democracy ), a liberal split led by former CDS-PP chairman Manuel Monteiro ; the left Partido Humanista (PH; Humanist Party ), the ultra-right Partido Nacional Renovador (PNR; National Renewal Party ), the Trotskyist Partido Operário de Unidade Socialista (POUS; Workers' Party of Socialist Unity ) and the Partido Democrático do Atlântico (PDA, Democratic Party of the Atlantic ), which advocates greater autonomy for the Portuguese islands ( Azores and Madeira ).
The two conservative parties Partido da Terra (MPT; Movement Party of the Earth ) and Partido Popular Monárquico (PPM; Monarchist People's Party ) competed on lists of the Portuguese Social Democrats in this election. In this way, both parties were able to secure two seats in parliament each.
Apart from the two parties that did not stand up independently, none entered parliament.
Final result
Out of a total of around 8.9 million Portuguese voters, 5,747,834 took part in the proportional representation vote. A party list was elected in each of the 22 electoral districts, which are made up of all Portuguese districts , the Azores , the island group around Madeira and one voting district each for other European countries and non-European countries. There is no threshold clause in Portugal , the mandates are awarded according to the Hare-Niemeyer procedure .
In each constituency, a certain number of mandates was awarded in relation to the population. The highest number of mandates to be reached was in the voting districts of Lisbon (48) and Porto (38), the lowest in the district of Porto Alegre (2), in the European foreign voting district (2) and in the non-European foreign voting district (also 2). Only in Lisbon did all the parties registered for election stand up with their own candidates.
Compared to the result of the parliamentary elections in 2002, the PS won overwhelmingly thanks to many votes from the political center. Central voters in particular voted for the PS to punish the PSD for the past two governments. The proportion of non-voters had also fallen significantly, with voter turnout at 65 percent compared to 62 percent in the previous election. In this way, the PS's gain in votes was not at the expense of the other left parties. These too were able to gain considerably more votes, especially the CDU list connection, which was the first to stop the 20-year-old trend of losing mandates. The Bloco de Esquerda nearly tripled its number of seats, especially young voters from the big cities decided in favor of the left bloc, which only emerged in 1999 from UDP, PSR and other parties .
Accordingly, the governing parties in particular lost a lot of votes. The PSD, which provided the last two prime ministers, was without a doubt the biggest loser in this election. But their coalition party, CDS-PP, also lost a lot of votes and fell to fourth place. The party was not able to achieve any of its intended goals (more votes and mandates than PCP and BE together, at least ten percent, third-strongest force, absolute majority of the PS). After the election, the chairman of the CDS-PP, Paulo Portas , resigned, and José Ribeiro e Castro was chosen as his successor in a direct election . Pedro Santana Lopes convened a special party conference and also announced that he no longer wanted to run for chairmanship of the party. He was succeeded by the former Minister for Parliamentary Affairs under Barroso , Luís Marques Mendes .
The new government was sworn in on March 12th, and José Sócrates was elected Prime Minister . The PS did not enter into any coalitions and thus ruled alone for the first time in Portuguese history.
Election results
| Political party | be right | Seats | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| number | % | +/- | number | +/- | ||
| Partido Socialista | 2,588,312 | 45.0 | +7.2 | 121 | +25 | |
| Partido Social Democrata | 1,653,425 | 28.8 | −11.4 | 75 | −30 | |
| Coligação Democrática Unitária 1 | 433,369 | 7.5 | +0.6 | 14th | +2 | |
| Partido Popular | 416.415 | 7.2 | −1.5 | 12 | −2 | |
| Bloco de Esquerda | 364.971 | 6.4 | +3.7 | 8th | +5 | |
| Partido Comunista dos Trabalhadores Portugueses | 48.186 | 0.8 | +0.1 | - | - | |
| Partido da Nova Democracia | 40,358 | 0.7 | - | - | - | |
| Partido Humanista | 17.056 | 0.3 | +0.1 | - | - | |
| Partido Nacional Renovador | 9,374 | 0.2 | +0.1 | - | - | |
| Partido Operário de Unidade Socialista | 5,535 | 0.1 | +0.0 | - | - | |
| Partido Democrático do Atlântico | 1,681 | 0.0 | - | - | - | |
| Blank ballot papers | 103,537 | 1.8 | +0.8 | |||
| Invalid ballot | 65,515 | 1.1 | +0.2 | |||
| total | 5,747,834 | 100.0 | 230 | |||
| Eligible voters | 8,944,508 | |||||
| voter turnout | 64.3% | |||||
| Source: | ||||||
1 The Coligação Democrática Unitaria is a list of the PCP and PEV, which also appeared together in the election campaign. Broken down, the PCP received twelve mandates and the PEV two.
See also
Web links
- Comissão Nacional de Eleições (National Electoral Commission): Parliamentary elections 2005 (requires the AutoDesk MapGuide plug-in, a Java edition is required for Macintosh and Solaris ; no Linux support)
- Dossier des Público with numerous newspaper articles to choose from (Portuguese)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Deputados e Grupos Parlamentares ( Memento of the original of July 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Martin Dahms: Lustless to change government . In: Berliner Zeitung , February 16, 2005
- ^ Leo Wieland : Government commission for Santana Lopes in Portugal . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , July 12, 2004
- ↑ Portugal in re-election fever - early parliamentary elections in February 2005? In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , December 2, 2004
- ^ A b Leo Wieland: Portuguese crisis . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , December 28, 2004
- ↑ Leo Wieland: Sócrates remains the favorite for the Portuguese election . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , February 8, 2005
- ^ Leo Wieland: Government in Portugal resigns . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , December 13, 2004
- ↑ a b Election in Portugal under the sign of annoyance - The socialists want to govern again , Neue Zürcher Zeitung , February 18, 2005
- ↑ PSD e CDS suspendem campanha . ( Memento of the original from October 28, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. [PSD and CDS suspend election campaign], Público , February 14, 2005
- ↑ Portugal's socialists move to the center , Neue Zürcher Zeitung , September 26, 2004
- ^ Election program of the Partido Socialista ( Memento of the original from December 27, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 1.59 MB; Portuguese)
- ↑ Ute Müller: Portugal's socialists are preparing for a comeback . In: Die Welt , February 19, 2005
- ↑ Top candidate Lopes . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , December 6, 2004
- ↑ Filipe Santos Costa: Santana promete o “melhor” país da UE , ( Memento of the original of March 21, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. [Santana promises to be the “best” country in the EU] Diário de Notícias , January 22, 2005
- ↑ Shock therapy for Portugal's economy , Neue Zürcher Zeitung , February 16, 2005
- ↑ PSD e CDS concorrem sozinhos mas prometem renovar coligação ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , [PSD and CDS compete alone, but promise to renew coalition], Público , December 14, 2008
- ^ Criticism of Barroso for election advertising , Süddeutsche Zeitung , February 17, 2005
- ^ Nobre Guedes é cabeça de lista em Coimbra , [Nobre Guedre heads the list in Coimbra], PortugalDiário.pt, January 6, 2005
- ↑ Usete Francisco: Paulo Portas quer “choque de valores” for Portugal . ( Memento of the original from October 29, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. [Paulo Portas wants “shock of values” for Portugal], Diário de Notícias , January 31, 2005
- ↑ Paulo Portas afasta hipótese de novo referendo sobre o aborto . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. [Paulo Portas rules out the possibility of a new abortion referendum], Público , February 4, 2005
- ↑ Election program of the Centro Democrático e Social ( Memento of the original from October 25, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 446 kB; Portuguese)
- ↑ Page of the Partido Ecologista “Os Verdes” ( Memento of the original from June 18, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Portuguese; to get to the election manifesto click on Eleições in the navigation bar, then on Legislativas 2005, then on Manifesto Eleitoral)
- ↑ Election program of the Partido Comunista Português ( Memento of the original of October 27, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 1.14 MB; Portuguese)
- ↑ Election program of the Bloco de Esquerda (PDF; 759 kB; Portuguese)
- ↑ Eduardo Dâmaso: Francisco Louçã: “Uma coligação faz-se quando há acordos suficientes com um partido e eles nicht existem com o PS” . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. [A coalition is formed when there is enough overlap with a party, and it does not exist with the PS], Público , February 4, 2005
- ↑ Portugal's socialists with an absolute majority . In: NZZ , February 22, 2005
- ↑ Leo Wieland: Sócrates promises a “positive new beginning” . In: FAZ , February 22, 2005
- ^ José Sócrates forms Portugal's new government , Neue Zürcher Zeitung , February 25, 2005
- ↑ CNE National Electoral Commission, result of the 2005 parliamentary elections (Portuguese; plug-in AutoDesk Guide required)
